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The dress code for the 2025 Met Gala was “Tailored for You,” and perhaps a few pairs of pants were still being tailored by the time the red carpet rolled around, because one of the strongest themes of the night seemed to be going completely pantsless.
I’m joking, of course, but among the many recurring motifs of the night—including bows, suits, pearls, and watches, all of which winked to the “dandy” concept—the most dominant trend of the Met, at least for women, appeared to be wearing an outfit sans bottoms.
The pantsless look has been trending for some time. In fact, it can be traced back to 2021, when designers started unveiling more looks in see-through fabrics anchored by visible panties—perhaps as a reaction to the rise of naked dressing, which was starting to feel predictable. If wearing a transparent crystal gown didn’t feel new anymore, why not add a pair of noticeable briefs to make the look feel radical again? That year at the Met Gala, Zoë Kravitz illustrated the point in a transparent silver dress from Saint Laurent worn over silver undies.
By 2022, it was no longer about seeing your underwear through transparent top layers, but rather making it the star of the show. Kylie Jenner wore Loewe briefs to sit front row at Paris fashion shows, and Julia Fox even did her grocery shopping in her underwear.
By 2023, Miu Miu was sending models down the runway in denim and leather shorts so cropped that they only could be categorized as underwear. Eventually the brand made a splash by introducing crystal briefs for wearing day-to-day. By the start of 2024, we found ourselves outwardly wondering—whatever happened to pants?
And the momentum around the pantless trend hasn’t lost any steam, as indicated by the looks from the latest Met Gala.
Louis Vuitton was one of the biggest promoters of the trend, dressing Lisa in a crystal-adorned blazer and matching briefs, while sending Sabrina Carpenter down the carpet in a chocolatey pinstripe bodysuit with coattails that stretched like a train behind her.
Bodysuits were plentiful, from Doja Cat’s sparkly, animal-printed number from Marc Jacobs to Helen Lasichanh’s leather paneled piece, also courtesy of Louis Vuitton.
Others wore the most micro of micro-minis, like Taraji P. Henson, whose custom Monse x Post-Imperial dress looked like a tuxedo bib transformed into a super-short minidress, or Hailey Bieber, whose Saint Laurent look consisted of a scandalously truncated blazer.
Finally, there were those who kept the emphasis on the underwear, like Amelia Gray, whose lacy Valentino fit was an assemblage of eye-popping intimates including tights, briefs, boy shorts, and more—but not a pair of pants to be found.
And many stars who did have bottoms in the form of a skirt, like Charli XCX, Kerry Washington, and Cynthia Erivo, still managed to highlight their panties in unusual ways.
While these ensembles leaned into a popular trend, they also seemed to honor the message of the related exhibit held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
Inspired by Monica L. Miller’s book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the exhibit, called “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” highlights how Black dandies have used fashion to “break down limiting identity markers and propose new ways of fashioning political and social possibility in the Black Atlantic world.”
Through variations on suiting and menswear, the dandy has always been daring, flamboyant, and audacious, defying norms and using style as a celebration of resistance. With this theme in mind, you can see how the latest Met Gala was all about showcasing your identity and asserting your autonomy through dress. And sometimes, that means leaving your pants at home.
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